Johann Sebastian Bach, his Life, Art, and Work Part 6

III. Compositions For The Organ

The pedal is the distinctive feature of the Organ which places it above all other instruments, and gives it its magnificence, sonority, and majesty. Deprive it of the pedal and you take from it the solemn and imposing tones which are its distinctive utterance, reducing it to the level of a "positiv," or Chamber-organ, an instrument relatively insignificant.

But an Organ equipped with a pedal must be able to employ it in its full compa.s.s,(285) and both composer and organist must know the proper use of it. No one excelled Bach in this knowledge. Not only is his rich harmony and melody singularly adapted to the instrument, but he gave the pedal a part of its own, even in his early compositions. Yet it was only gradually that he mastered its technique; for his Organ masterpieces belong to the period in which those for the Clavier began to be cla.s.sics.

His early and immature Organ works are widely dispersed; for as soon as a composer begins to be distinguished everybody is anxious to possess a specimen of his art. Public curiosity, however, generally dies down long before a composer comes to maturity, particularly if his work is over the heads of the public. And this seems to have been Bach's fortune.

Consequently his mature Organ works are less familiar than his early efforts. The latter, however, cannot possibly be admitted to a "correct and critical" edition of his works, and I mention here only those whose merit is as incontestable as that of the Clavier works enumerated in the preceding paragraphs.

Bach's finest Organ music falls into three groups:

1. _The Great Preludes and Fugues_, with obbligato pedal. Their number cannot be stated, but I believe it not to exceed a dozen.(286) At least, after prolonged search I have not been able to collect more than that number.(287) To these I must add a very clever and original Pa.s.sacaglia, which, however, seems suitable rather for a two-manual Clavicembalo and pedal than for the Organ.(288) 2. _Preludes on Choral Melodies_. It was at Arnstadt that Bach began to compose Variations on Choral melodies, under the t.i.tle _Part.i.te diverse._(289) Most of them can be played on the manuals alone.

Those which I include here are an exception and require the obbligato pedal. Their number may amount to one hundred. I myself possess above seventy, and more survive elsewhere.(290) No other Choral Preludes approach them in religious feeling, dignity, and sublimity of expression. I cannot notice them individually; they are too numerous. Besides the larger, there is a great number of shorter and easier ones, particularly useful for young players.

MSS. of them exist in considerable number.(291) 3. _Six Sonatas_, or Trios, for two manuals and an obbligato pedal.(292) Bach wrote them for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, whom they helped to become the great performer he was when I knew him. It is impossible to overpraise their beauty. Bach composed them when he was in the full vigour of his powers, and they may be considered his chef d'oeuvre in this form.(293) He also wrote other Organ Sonatas, the MSS. of which are in various collections. They are fine compositions, though they do not equal the Six in merit.(294)

IV. Instrumental Music

There are few instruments for which Bach did not write. In his day it was usual to play a Concerto or instrumental Solo during the Communion office.(295) Bach composed many of these pieces himself, and always with a view to their improving the technique of the player. Most of them are lost. But two important works of another kind survive and to some extent compensate us. They are:

1. Six Solos for Violin, unaccompanied.(296) 2. Six Solos for Violoncello, unaccompanied.(297) The Violin Solos have long been considered by the finest players to be the best instructor for the instrument. The Violoncello Solos are equally effective.(298)

V. Vocal Music

1. Five complete sets of church Cantatas for the Sundays and Festivals of the year.(299) 2. Five compositions for Holy Week, one of which is for double chorus.(300) 3. Several Oratorios,(301) Ma.s.ses,(302) a _Magnificat,_ settings of the Sanctus,(303) compositions for birthdays and Saints' Days,(304) funerals,(305) marriages,(306) and some Italian Cantatas.(307) 4. Several Motets for single and double chorus.(308)

Most of these works are now dispersed. The Church Cantatas were divided between his elder sons after their composer's death. Wilhelm Friedemann had the larger share because, being organist at Halle, he could make use of them. Later, circ.u.mstances compelled him to part with them gradually.

I know of no other collection of Bach's larger choral works. There exist, however, eight or ten Motets for double chorus, but they are dispersed in various hands.(309) In the collection bequeathed by the Princess Amalia of Prussia to the Joachimsthal Gymnasium at Berlin there are some of Bach's vocal compositions.(310) Their number is not considerable, but among them are the following:

1. Twenty-one Church Cantatas.(311) In one of them, set to the words, _Schlage doch, gewunschte Stunde,_(312) the composer introduces a bell obbligato. From that fact we may conclude that the Cantata was not composed in the period of Bach's maturity,(313) for the use of bells is of doubtful taste.

2. Two Ma.s.ses for five voices with instrumental accompaniment.(314) 3. A Ma.s.s for double chorus, the first being accompanied by Strings and the second by wind instruments.(315) 4. A _Pa.s.sion,_ for double Chorus,(316) the text by Picander.(317) 5. A _Sanctus,_ for four voices and instrumental accompaniment.(318) 6. A Motet, for four voices, _Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir._(319) 7. A Motet for five voices, _Jesu, meine Freude._ 8. Four Motets, for eight voices in double chorus:

(a) _Furchte dich nicht, ich bin dei dir._ (b) _Der Geist hilft unserer Schwachheit auf._ (c) _Komm, Jesu, komm._ (d) _Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied._(320)

9. A detached four-part fugal chorus, _Nimm was dein ist, und gehe hin._(321) 10. A bucolic Cantata, with Recitatives, Aria, Duet, and Chorus. A note is prefixed to it.(322)

On the MS. of the last-named Cantata and of the Ma.s.s for double chorus (No. 3 supra) there is a note by Kirnberger a.n.a.lysing the skill and merit of the compositions.

CHAPTER X. BACH'S Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS

It has been remarked more than once that Bach, throughout his life, devoted much thought to the improvement of his compositions. I have had frequent occasion to compare the original and subsequent texts of his works, and confess to have experienced both surprise and pleasure in observing his care to improve whatever he thought faulty, to make good better, and better perfect. Nothing is more instructive than a collation of this kind, whether to the experienced musician or the instructed amateur. I should like to see a supplement to the complete edition of Bach's works showing these variant readings.(323) The collation would be in the highest degree instructive, and to attempt it is as appropriate to the works of the composer, a poet in sound, as to those of the poet in words.

In Bach's early texts he often repeats a phrase to other words with some melodic variety, in a lower or even in the same octave. In his riper experience he could not tolerate such poverty of workmanship, and cut out these pa.s.sages remorselessly, without regard for the number and quality of the persons who had approved them in their original state. There occur to me two good examples of this, the C major and C sharp minor Preludes in the first part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._ Bach revised them so drastically as to cut them down by one-half, sacrificing pa.s.sages that he thought redundant.(324)

In other places Bach tends to be over-concise; he expresses an idea, but does not fully develop it. The best ill.u.s.tration that occurs to me is the D minor Prelude in the second part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._ I possess several texts of it. In the oldest the first transposition of the theme in the Ba.s.s and several other details essential to a complete development of the idea are wanting. A second MS. gives the theme to the Ba.s.s wherever the latter is in a key nearly related to that of the tonic.

In a third MS. these addenda are developed more fully and are joined more skilfully. But melodic details are present of doubtful relevance to the rest of the composition. In a fourth MS. these disappear or are amended, so that, as we have it, the Prelude stands as one of the most beautiful and least faulty in the _Well-tempered Clavier._ Many people, no doubt, preferred the movement in its original form. But Bach was not a man to be influenced by approbation or criticism. He went on correcting until he satisfied himself.

In the early part of the seventeenth century it was the fashion in instrumental music to overload single notes with ornaments and add florid runs. Lately it has become the fashion to do so in vocal music as well.

That Bach shared this disposition may be inferred from certain pieces that he wrote in this style. An instance is the Prelude in E minor in the first part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._ But he soon returned to his natural better taste, and altered the movement to the form in which it is engraved.(325)

Every decade has its own style of melody, distinctive of itself and evanescent. A composer must carefully avoid it if he hopes to be listened to by posterity. In his young days even Bach ran upon this rock. His early compositions for the Organ, and the two-part _Inventions_ in their original form, are full of fiorituri such as the taste of his period approved. His Organ compositions remain comparatively untouched, but the _Inventions_ he closely revised. The public will soon be able to compare them in their first and later forms, as the publishers, with admirable spirit, have resolved to discontinue the present edition and to send out to subscribers a revised one based on Bach's corrected text.

Bach's processes of revision so far mentioned, however, merely correct faults of form, that is, diffuseness or incomplete development of a musical thought. But Bach employed other methods which are less easy to describe because they are more subtle. He often rivets the style and character of a piece by changing a single note, strictly correct grammatically and yet disagreeable to an artist such as himself. Even commonplace pa.s.sages he could convert into phrases of beauty by the addition or alteration of a single note. Only the most sensitive taste and trained experience can decide in such cases, and Bach possessed both in the highest perfection. He developed them to such a pitch, indeed, that his brain eventually rejected any idea which, in all its properties and relations, did not accord inevitably and naturally with the whole composition. Consequently his later works display such consistency of merit that all of them seem to have been cast complete in a mould, so smooth, facile and abundant is the flow of his rich fancy. It is on the highest summits of the art that harmony and melody find their ideal union, and as yet Bach dwells there in majestic isolation.

CHAPTER XI. THE GENIUS OF BACH

It is surely unnecessary to ask whether that artist is a genius who, in every form of his art, has produced masterpiece after masterpiece, of an originality which sets them above the achievements of all other ages, distinguished also by a wealth of originality and agreeableness that enslaves every hearer. The most fertile fancy, invention inexhaustible, a judgment so nice as to reject intuitively every irrelevant and jarring detail, unerring ingenuity in employing the most delicate and minute resources of his art, along with an unrivalled technique-these qualities, whose expression demands the outpouring of a man's whole soul, are the signboards of genius. The man who cannot find them in Bach's music either is not acquainted with it at all or knows it imperfectly. One needs to be steeped in it thoroughly to appreciate the genius of its author. For the greater the work the closer study is demanded for its apprehension. The b.u.t.terfly method, a sip here and there, is of little use. But admirable as were the gifts Bach received from nature, he could never have become an accomplished genius had he not learned betimes to avoid the rocks on which many artists, some of them perhaps not less gifted than he, too often founder. I will communicate to the reader some scattered thoughts on the subject and conclude this essay with an indication of the characteristics of Bach's genius.

Even the largest natural gifts, coupled with the strongest propensity for a particular art, offer no more than fruitful soil on which that art may thrive by patient cultivation. Industry, the true begetter of every art and science, is an indispensable factor. Not only does it enable genius to master technique, but it stimulates the critical and reflective faculties also. The very ease with which genius acquires and applies the apparatus of musical composition frequently entices it to leap over root principles in its plunge into deeper waters, or to fly before its wings are grown. In such a case, unless genius is guided back to neglected fundamentals and forced to build itself upon the great examples of the past, it will inevitably expend its treasure uselessly and never attain to its promised dimensions. For it is an axiom, that real progress can never be made, nor the highest perfection be attained, if the foundations are insecure. If arduous heights are to be achieved, the easier obstacles must first be approached and overcome. Guided by his own inexperience no one ever can hope to become great. He must profit by the practice and example of others.

Bach did not founder on this rock. His soaring genius attended an equally ardent industry which incessantly impelled him, whenever he found his own equipment insufficient, to seek guidance from others. Vivaldi and his Concertos were the first from whom he sought counsel. From them he turned to the princ.i.p.al Organ and Clavier composers of the period. Nothing is more intellectually stimulating than counterpoint, and the composers Bach studied were distinguished by their mastery of it, as their fugal writing attests. Hence Bach's diligent study and imitation of them pointed his taste and imagination to perceive wherein himself was lacking and what steps were needed to take him farther in his art.

A second rock upon which genius often comes to grief is the public's undiscriminating applause. To be sure, I do not undervalue public approval or commend without reserve the remark of a Greek teacher to his pupil, "You performed badly, otherwise the audience would not have applauded you." Yet it is none the less true that many artists are thrown off their balance by exaggerated and often unmerited plaudits, particularly in their early careers before they have acquired self-discipline and sound judgment. The public merely asks for what it can understand, whereas the true artist ought to aim at an achievement which cannot be measured by popular standards. How, then, can popular applause be reconciled with the true artist's aspirations towards the ideal? Bach never sought applause, and held with Schiller:

Kannst du nicht allen gefallen durch deine That und dein Kunstwerk, Mach' es wenigen recht; vielen gefallen ist schlimm.(326)

Like every true artist, Bach worked to please himself in his own way, obeying the summons of his own genius, choosing his own subjects, and finding satisfaction only in the approval of his own judgment. He could count on the applause of all who understood good music, and never failed to receive it. Under what other conditions can sound works of art emerge?

The composer who debases his muse to the popular mood either lacks real genius or, having it, abuses it. For to catch the ear of the public is not a difficult task and merely connotes an agreeable facility. Composers of that cla.s.s are like artisans who frankly fashion their goods to suit their market. But Bach never condescended to such artifices. The artist, in his judgment, is the dictator of public taste, not its slave. If, as often happened, he was asked to write something simple for the Clavier he would answer, "I will do what I can." He would choose an easy theme. But when he began to develop it he always found so much to say that the piece soon became anything but simple. If his attention was drawn to the fact, he would answer smilingly, "Practise it well and you will find it quite easy. You have as many good fingers on each hand as I have." Nor was he prompted in this by mere contradictoriness, but exhibited the true artist spirit.

It was, in fact, the artist temperament that led Bach to make the great and sublime his goal. For that reason his music is not merely agreeable, like other composers', but transports us to the regions of the ideal. It does not arrest our attention momentarily but grips us the stronger the oftener we listen to it, so that after a thousand hearings its treasures are still unexhausted and yield fresh beauties to excite our wonder. Even the beginner who knows but the A B C of his art warms with pleasure when he hears Bach's music and can open his ear and heart to it. It was the true artist spirit, too, that guided Bach to unite majesty and grandeur of design with meticulous care for detail and the most refined elegance, characteristics which we rather seek, perhaps, in works whose object is merely to give pleasure. Bach held strongly that if the strands are imperfect, the whole design is faulty. His genius is sublime and impressive, and he never condescends to be frivolous even when he touches the lighter forms of art.

To conclude: it was the union of astounding genius and indefatigable application that enabled Bach to widen at every point the domain of musical expression. His successors have failed to maintain the art at the level to which he raised it. If Bach was more successful, if he was able to produce great work of convincing beauty and imperishable as a model for those who came after him, we owe it as much to his application as to his genius.

This man, the greatest orator-poet that ever addressed the world in the language of music, was a German! Let Germany be proud of him! Yes, proud of him, but worthy of him too!

[The Bach Statue at Leipzig]

The Bach Statue at Leipzig